Coming Down
by Oonagh
Summary: Even the greatest high can only last so long... Some very slight bad language.
1. Chapter 1

**Coming Down**

_By Oonagh_

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, at all.

Author's note: I wrote this story a long while back and found it today while cleaning out my hard drive. I'm not really sure about it but I'm posting it anyway – any criticism would be welcomed. It's set about one week after Uly's cure.

Devon Adair stood in the doorway of the tent she shared with her son and listened to him sleep. The gentle sound of his deep, even breathing never ceased to astound and thrill her. For eight years she had been used to the mechanical droning of the immuno- suit, more noticeable at night than at any other time, and sometimes she still woke, terrified because she couldn't hear it.

The week since Uly's encounter with the Terrians seemed like no time at all, but it had made all the difference in the world. His cure had vindicated her decision – her battle - to establish a colony planetside, to turn her back on the space stations that had sustained them since the deterioration of earth. Okay, so maybe the cure hadn't happened in the way she – or Dr. Vasquez - had expected. But it had happened – and if it worked for Uly it would work for all the other children to whose parents Devon had sold this project.

Now the only problem was making sure that the survivors of the advance team were there to meet the colonists and share the good news. At this thought Devon's slight smile slipped away. It was quite a big problem actually. They'd already lost one man – the leader, the soldier, the only one with any real knowledge of living on a planet of any type. And half the people who had crash landed in the pod with her weren't even supposed to be here and weren't too happy with the current circumstances.

But more seriously, this meant that many of her 'team' wouldn't have had the vaccinations and medications that Dr. Vasquez had insisted on for anybody making landfall. Alonzo was already suffering because of this and who knows what would happen to the rest of them before the colony ship arrived with medical supplies more advanced than those being carefully organised and catalogued by a concerned Dr. Heller. Once again Devon cursed Dr. Vasquez for going against her orders. He should be here, they shouldn't be stuck with some glorified intern. Devon shook her head – that was unfair, Julia had done a good job so far. But still Devon _knew_ Dr. Vasquez, felt comfortable with him, trusted him with Uly. Devon's slight smile returned, wider than before, with the thought that if things kept going the way they were she would never again have to worry about Uly's relationship with physicians – at least no more than any other mother did.

Her deep seated – if wary - happiness about her son kept her smiling as she thought about the more immediate problems they faced. Transport, travel, supplies and democracy. So the problems were big, but they weren't insurmountable – Devon had witnessed a miracle seven days ago and now she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that _anything _was possible.

Bolstered by her faith she turned away from her son and headed into the night, guided by the patch of lamplight that she knew meant Danziger was at work on one or another of the vehicles, a slight distance away from where the rest of the group was clustered around a large campfire. She veered away from the fire and headed for the vehicles. Danziger was the one she needed to talk to – he was their mechanic and knew more about their transport than anyone else and since O'Neill's death he had impressed her with his presence of mind and calm. She might not agree with many of his ideas and opinions – or any of them, actually – but she respected him for his straightforward manner. And he had searched tirelessly for her son, crawling through dark, unexplored tunnels looking wholeheartedly for the child of a woman he strongly disliked. She respected that as well, and was grateful.

So now that she had come down from her high, was facing reality and thinking clearly, she knew that he was the best bet to get logical, objective advice from – provided that she didn't touch on anything that affected True too closely. And it wasn't like she had to listen to his advice if she didn't like it. Reaching the transrover Devon called out,

"Danziger." She frowned slightly at the muffled grunt that answered her. This wasn't the kind of reaction she was used to from workers. They were supposed to jump when she called, anxious to please.

"Danziger." this time her tone was cooler, the crown princess displeased. But it had no effect. Danziger remained buried under the big machine, rattling away at something. Devon scowled. This had been a bad idea. It wasn't like she needed advice anyway. This was her project and she had managed perfectly well so far without advice from stubborn drones. Okay, so not everything was going according to plan but had she really expected everything to go completely smoothly? Of course not, not really. Devon snorted. Smoothly! The government had tried to kill them, blow them up. They'd exploded, crash landed thousands of miles from their destination, with only a tiny percentage of the crew and the advance team surviving the disaster. They had little food, few medical supplies, a crippled pilot, a well-meaning but out of her depth doctor and a leader who had no experience in this type of situation, who was confused and terrified. Crumpling under the weight of her thoughts Devon sank to the ground, doing nothing to stop the tears that slid down her face, slowly at first then with greater rapidity.


	2. Chapter 2

Coming Down Chapter 2

Disclaimer: See start of story

Danziger lay under the transrover, fighting to loosen a recalcitrant bolt. He gave up on the conventional method and began to hit it hard and repeatedly with the edge of the spanner, more out of frustration than with any hope that it would help. Over the thumping he thought he heard someone speak

"Who's there?" He didn't stop his bashing, slightly embarassed about his lack of control and hoping that whoever was there would not realise what was causing the sound. Then he heard the Adair woman call his name, crossly. Great of all the people who had to catch him taking his frustrations out the machinery and it had to be the woman who owned it – and who thought she owned everything else to guess from her attitude. He cringed and thought about pretending he didn't hear but Devon Adair wasn't the type of person who'd give up and go away. She'd stay, getting crosser and crosser with each moment he kept her waiting. Still, he couldn't resist the temptation to yank her chain and so he continued to bang, counting slowly to sixty, before easing himself out from under the transrover and casually standing and turning his attention to his very unwelcome visitor. He opened his mouth, a pithy comment about frogs and jumping on the tip of his tongue, but the sight that met him rendered him speechless and left him opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. Devon Adair - cold, ruthless, arrogant Devon Adair – sat on the ground under his lamp shuddering with sobs that wracked her body and clearly made it hard for her to breathe. Danziger was stunned into action. Without conscious thought he knelt dawn beside and wrapped his arms around her.

"What's wrong, Devon?" Then a panicked thought,

"Is it Uly, has something happened?" The woman in his arms shook her head and he took this as a negative. This brought him to a halt. Other than her son he could not imagine Devon Adair getting this upset over anything and if Uly was fine then he was stymied. Feeling her shudder again he decided to concentrate on getting her calmed down – he'd seen true hysteria twice before and he knew she was nearing the point of no return – so he began stroking her hair and muttering calmly near her ear.

"Everyhing's O.K. Devon. Just take deep breaths. In. Out. See, Its all fine. Nothing to cry about." Danziger continued along these lines until her body began to relax and her sobs became less panicked. Eventually she drew a final deep breath and sat up, pushing away from him and wiping her eyes.

"You O.K.?" The quiet concern in his voice touched her, even through her rapidly growing embarrassment. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

" Wanna talk about it?" Danziger kept his voice casual and nonchalant, moving from his knees to a more comfortable position while avoiding her eyes, not wanting to scare her off. He might not like the woman but he couldn't sit back and let anybody suffer like that.

Eventually she spoke, her voice quavering, despite clear efforts to keep it firm. _How she must hate this,_ thought Danziger.

"I'm …concerned…about what will happen next. About how we'll survive. About where to go and what to do. I mean I've been so happy about Uly – ecstatic really- that I haven't been thinking rationally. I _knew_ we could make it to New Pacifica. But it wasn't real – it was a fantasy brought on by a miracle – an emotional belief born while I was so …ecstatic. But now…everything is more real. I can see more. I saw the looks on everybody's faces tonight when we stopped. And it frightened me. I sold them hope. I'm good at that. But I can't deliver. The dream's faded and I have nothing more to give." Devon's halting speech drew to an end and she covered her face with her hands. Danziger reached out and removed them, forcing her to look at him.

"You'd better damn well have more to give Adair. Okay, so you're not the perfect leader but you're the only one we've got. For whatever reason, all these people agreed to follow you, your dream. But that's just it Devon, it's not a dream. It's a real place, New Pacifica, we've all seen it on the map. It exists. All we have to do is get there. And you have to lead us. That's what you signed on for. I mean, damn, after everything you went through to get this far, a little hike cross country should be a doddle." Danziger looked into Devon's eyes as he spoke watching for a reaction and he got one. She glanced away at his last sentence and shrugged.

"I had a lot of help getting this far. Vasquez, O'Neill and a lot of others. I didn't do it by myself."

"And you don't have to do this bit by yourself either. There's help here too, you know. You've got Yale, he seems pretty grounded to me. And Alonzo should be useful with that dream thing he does. And… and I'm always here if you need me." Danziger didn't understand why that last bit was so hard to add but was glad he had as he saw a spark flash in her eyes.

"You? And exactly what use do you think you'll be?" Her teasing tone surprised him but he decided to go along with it, glad to see her more cheerful.

"Well, for one thing somebody has to be around to tell you when you're wrong and why you're wrong. In fact I think you'd better look into getting another mechanic because I think that's gonna be a full time job for me!"

"Hey!" Devon reached out and hit him on the shoulder and he laughed. Standing up, he offered her his hand and pulled her up.

"We should join the others and discuss the plan of action for tomorrow." Danziger nodded at her and reached over to turn the lamp off, unaccountably disappointed that their chat was over. He felt much better about the whole situation now, more confident in Adair's leadership now he knew that she wasn't as arrogant, narrow-minded and self-confident as she seemed. As far as he was concerned a little bit of humility went a long way towards making a good leader and it was starting to look like there was hope for Adair after all.


	3. Chapter 3

Coming Down Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Around forty-five minutes after breaking down in Danziger's arms, Devon once again found herself standing in the doorway of her tent watching her son sleeping. He still made very little sound, breathing easily and sleeping deeply. Devon smiled and moved into the tent, bending over him and brushing his curls off his forehead. The almost manic joy she had been feeling ever since the Terrians had returned him, whole, had faded, washed away by her tears. But it had left, in its place, a kind of peace. Yes, the group faced a lot of challenges and the next year or so would be gruelling. Sometimes they'd even fail, she would fail. But it wouldn't matter because they'd pick themselves up and go on. Devon didn't need to pretend anymore that everything was fine. There were problems and there'd probably be more before they reached New Pacifica but there _was_ hope. And that was all that mattered. Feeling less alone than she had since landing on G889, Devon undressed and lay down in her bed determined to sleep the night through for the first time in a long time. _Who would have thought that Danziger would be the one to fix everything. But then I guess he is a mechanic._ Devon snorted at that thought, recognizing it as the nonsense generated by a mind that needed rest. In the morning she could start over and lead these people properly, rationally…. And with help.


End file.
